One thing that has singularly impressed me about Japanese culture is their utter dedication to pranks.
Here in America, a prank is a pie in the face or pulling a chair out. But the Japanese take it to an absolutely absurd level.
One prank, however, has to take the cake.
In this prank, they led the Japanese idol group to a concert hall in the middle of nowhere, built an entire building in the middle of the hall with collapsible walls, waited for them to go to sleep, bussed in 400 fans, and then, at 6 in the morning, had them perform a surprise concert.
That is utterly breathtaking in its complexity.
But the other surprising thing about pranks is the reaction to them. I have yet to see someone actually get angry. They usually seem happy that someone thought enough of them to prank them, or barring that, are impressed by the skill of the pranker.
But some of the pranks go way, way too far, and it’s no wonder that those kinds of pranks don’t happen here. The lawsuits would be flying before the day was over. And for a few of them? With good reason, honestly.
But it’s yet another difference between cultures, and I’m interested in why there is such a difference on this topic.